Master Sifu Tom Clark of "PracticalMMA" in Maryland

**DarkPhoenix** · Posted On: 3/09/2010 4:29pm

Everything I googled about him comes up connected to Larry Hartsell, but nothing as a judoka, or BJJer. His main style though appears to be Goju.

**raylawley** · Posted On: 3/10/2010 7:36am

Video on the main page looks alright to me

http://www.practicalmma.com/

**cyrijl** · Posted On: 3/10/2010 8:53am

yeah but this kind of stinks

holds a Black Belt in Goju-Ryu / Jissen-Ryu – Karate/ Jiu-Jitsu.

Because of the spelling I would think he has a black belt in BJJ

***Omega Supreme*** · Posted On: 3/10/2010 11:35am

Haven't we beat this spelling thing up enough?

**cyrijl** · Posted On: 3/10/2010 1:38pm

Not just the spelling, but I think most lay people would associate MMA with BJJ and not traditional jujitsu. So the combination is what I think is misleading

**Raging Monkey** · Posted On: 3/12/2010 9:47am

I haven't spoken to Tom in over 15 years but from the time I associated with him in the early 90s, when we both represented Sifu Larry Hartsell in Maryland, I remember him to be reasonably on the up and up. He did have that annoying tendency of the Karate teacher to get sucked into those mutual admiration/ranking situations with other Karate guys but he had a very long standing and solid Goju and Chinese martial arts background back then.

I do not remember him stating any Judo experience back then, and out of all of it that would be the only one I would raise an eyebrow at if I was going to scrutinize. He had a lot of back problems even back then, and when training I would always have to be very careful when I would throw him. I can't imagine him picking up Judo after we parted ways and making it to black belt...

**searcher66071** · Posted On: 3/12/2010 12:32pm

No reply to my e-mail to Carlson Gracie Jr. I am trying to be patient.

**chalkieusa** · Posted On: 3/12/2010 9:14pm

Originally Posted by Raging Monkey

I haven't spoken to Tom in over 15 years but from the time I associated with him in the early 90s, when we both represented Sifu Larry Hartsell in Maryland, I remember him to be reasonably on the up and up. He did have that annoying tendency of the Karate teacher to get sucked into those mutual admiration/ranking situations with other Karate guys but he had a very long standing and solid Goju and Chinese martial arts background back then.

I do not remember him stating any Judo experience back then, and out of all of it that would be the only one I would raise an eyebrow at if I was going to scrutinize. He had a lot of back problems even back then, and when training I would always have to be very careful when I would throw him. I can't imagine him picking up Judo after we parted ways and making it to black belt...

Was this the same guy in DUNDALK/ESSEX area?

**Raging Monkey** · Posted On: 3/12/2010 10:33pm

Originally Posted by chalkieusa

Was this the same guy in DUNDALK/ESSEX area?

Yes, at the time Tom lived in Dundalk.

**chalkieusa** · Posted On: 3/14/2010 5:53pm

Originally Posted by Raging Monkey

Yes, at the time Tom lived in Dundalk.

Then I know this guy, as he was teaching Judo/Jujitsu to our school in the late 90's early 2000.

He taught the basics of throws and locks. None of which was for promotion purposes, just to add to our training.

I do not know of any deal that he had with the Head Instructor at the time.

The stuff he taught seemed to be pretty solid and sound.